The worst thing about kegging...

[QuercusMax]

Is the damn black crud I get on my hands from the rubber keg handles / bottoms! It's awful! I have 14 pin locks, and almost all of them cover my hands with black crud that I can't seem to get rid of.

Any tips for dealing with it? Can I treat the rubber in some fashion to stop it from staining my hands? My fingers look gray for days after messing with my kegs. Soap takes off most of the surface crud, but it seems to get down into the crevices in my fingers and never comes out!

The second worst thing about kegging is figuring out what to do with all the tons of empty bottles my friends starting giving me in the month or so before I got my keg setup. My wife hasn't started complaining yet, but it's only a matter of time...

 

[kombat]

Clean them enough and it goes away.

 

[Jim_Holmes]

clean them real good then mask off the handles and spray them with a poleyurethane clear cote. or just wrap the handles with duct tape so your hands dont come into contact with them

 

[max384]

Buy a box of rubber gloves. I work in the medical field, and patients don't like dirty hands, so I use rubber gloves for most things that I know will get my hands really dirty.

 

[QuercusMax]

Hmm, I like the duct tape suggestion...

I'm starting to understand why people get those all-stainless kegs. It's not worth the cash to me at the moment, tho!

 

[CrookedCreek]

Coat them with Krylon Fusion maybe?

 

[day_trippr]

Try something like Armor-All on the rubbers...

Cheers!

 

[nhwrecker]

I'm dealing with the same issue though it doesn't seem as bad when things dry out. However, I would never use duct tape. That crap will get even worse down the road after it gets hot and wet a few times. I've just tried coating a few with armor all and will try and post back after I've seen the results. Hope to see some more good ideas here and I plan on trying the polyurethane spray idea too.

 

[thadius856]

Car wax, man. Car wax.

 

[Hello]

Another vote for rubber gloves. I use them all of the time when working in the garage with stains/poly and such. Or you can leave a pair of these bad boys nearby (or in your keezer). I have a pair in the garage and they're a godsend. Easy to grab things without the bulk of those larger gloves. They have a sort of latex coating for easy grip.

 

[day_trippr]

If the rubber surfaces are powdering to begin with I would imagine using a spray on enamel or lacquer coating would eventually result in it flaking off in a particularly unattractive and likely distinctly annoying manner...

Cheers!

 

[JuanMoore]

Try something like Armor-All on the rubbers...

Cheers!

Yep, or vasoline. Clean it well first, and then apply any petroleum based grease to prevent it from drying out and turning to powder again.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Bar Keeper's Friend. It's cheap and will clean and polish the entire keg, making it look new.